


heart heart head

by makeashadow_ao3



Series: Motel [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Bonding, Meet the Family, for a coven with fucked up rituals the gemini love a barbeque, whatta cunning linguist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:47:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makeashadow_ao3/pseuds/makeashadow_ao3
Summary: Sequel to 'after you': A year after leaving Texas, Bonnie starts over in a new city with old baggage.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennet & Liv Parker, Bonnie Bennett & Lucy Bennett, Bonnie Bennett/Malachai "Kai" Parker, Malachai "Kai" Parker & Liv Parker
Series: Motel [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610617
Comments: 12
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for 2018's bk mayday bc wow i really needed to date myself here. title from meg myers' song of the same name.

i/ii

Her skin has been buzzing all week, a sensation akin to being watched.

She awakens to a dark room and the air conditioning unit in the window sputtering to its final breath. The landlord said he'd replace it, but she's been renting this studio apartment for three weeks and she hasn't seen him since he gave her the tour and the key. Lying in bed, she listens to the motor rumble and wheeze for a solid ten minutes before it gives one last puff of tepid air. Then the room falls silent.

She's heard many a death rattle, but never one like that.

Rising, she whips the sheets damp with her sweat off her legs and pads her way to the wall. There are a couple of screws mounting the unit into the window to keep it from falling out and down five stories to the street, but nothing too pesky for her magic to take care of. She wrestles the hunk of metal and plastic into her arms and lets it drop to the hardwood floor. It is too early in the morning to wonder if it scratched the finish and if that would come out of her security deposit, but it isn't too far from the back of her mind.

The dawn light filters through the new space, a humid breeze washing over her. Her apartment is west-facing, overlooking a street that is busier in the daytime, so she knows she'll be the last to get a glimpse of the rising sun. It's a shitty location where police sirens whizzing past have often woken her up, but she found the previous renter's ad for someone to sublease on craigslist and couldn't pass up the price. Where else would she find a rent-controlled place smack dab in the middle of the city?

She turns her back on the window, glances at her bed - just a twin size mattress, sheets, and a quilted blanket - and debates if she should try for a few more hours of sleep. But goose flesh litters her arms and the room is too hot. So she settles for a shower and getting a headstart on the day.

"You are the most stubborn witch I know, Cuz," Lucy's voice admonishes in her ear. "You have magic, an assload of it, and you refuse to use it."

"It's not my job to fix my AC. It's the landlord's. And, to be fair, I've been without magic more than once. More than twice. I'm not at luxury to get dependent on it."

She fumbles with her keys, her elbows weighed down with tote bags full of fresh vegetables and seeds for her garden. The lock to her fifth floor walk-up often jams due to swelling from the summer heat, so she bucks her hip against the door as she twists the knob open. Her phone nearly slips from between her ear and shoulder, but she catches it and kicks her foot behind her to close the door.

"Yeah, yeah. Those sounds like the excuses of someone who still fears the power they hold."

"It's not fear. It's reverence."

"That's a big word, college girl."

"Okay, you're being mean. I'm hanging up."

"No, wait!"

She sets her bags on the kitchen counter and rifles through for her seeds. She silently waits for her cousin's apology, which will be close to an apology but not quite.

"Fine. They're your powers. Use them or _don't_ however you want. It's not my place. It's none of my business."

"For someone who is the nosiest person I know, you love saying 'it's none of my business'."

"Fair enough," and she can almost hear Lucy smirk on the other end of the line.

Bonnie spent about a year in Phoenix with Lucy Bennett. After she left Texas, it was the only place she wanted to go. But a year was a long time to stay in one place that didn't feel like home and she knew it was time to move on. Lucy tried to get her to go to New Orleans, said she'd go with her. But Bonnie wanted to put more distance between her and vampires, not less.

"I still can't convince you to take a trip with me to Louisiana?"

"Luce, I just got here. Besides, another run-in with the Mikaelsons isn't on my bucket list now or ever."

She makes her way to the sliding glass door, slips out of her flats, and walks out onto her tiny balcony. She's made herself a little terrace with potted flowers, calla lilies and aloe and lavender. The lavender's sprouting the best, but she's anxious to plant some sage. Her stash is running low, and until she can find a source of steady income she's pinching pennies.

"Because a shitty studio apartment in Portland, Oregon of all places is so much better?"

"Uh, I slept on your shitty pull-out couch for how long? At least here I have a real mattress."

"Which is probably sitting on the floor while all your grimoires are nice and neat on a bookshelf."

"Okay, I love you but I really am hanging up now. Bye." She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts, and focuses on pinching out spots for the seeds and watering the soil just enough. For good measure, she whispers a rooting spell over the pot and then walks back into her apartment.

"You're going to want to get that fixed," she hears from by the front door and she rolls her eyes.

All the skin itching… Of fucking course.

The Parker witch is yards away propped on the arm of her sofa, an ugly thing she picked up from a thrift store and covered with a tan bed sheet. He kicks the toe of his boot in the direction of her discarded air conditioning unit. "These summers can be brutal."

"How'd you find me?"

"How about the question you really want to ask? Why did it take three weeks for me to show up here? You're in my city, after all." He pushes off the sofa and clasps his hands in front of him. "It's called respecting boundaries."

She scoffs. "You? Boundaries? Since when?"

"A year is a long time, Bonnie."

Her name on his tongue is like a fever coursing through her veins. "But you're here now."

The air between them grows thick with memories of those Texan nights, hidden away in that dusty motel room. The feel of his lips tasting of diner coffee pressed against hers with a goodbye neither of them wanted to say. How it felt to hear him breathe and not through the line of a telephone. Come to think of it, it was pretty foolish of her to get rid of her phone when she got to Arizona.

Kai remains where he stands, his fingertips twisting at the silver ring he wears on his thumb. His hooded eyes are hungry, but he stays on his side of the room. "It was requested that I summon you."

"Summon me?"

"You're in Gemini territory. It's only fair they get the chance to assess the threat level."

So preoccupied with drinking in the sight of him, his tidied stubble, his unassuming outfit, scuffed boots, black jeans, and a blue crew neck t-shirt, she doesn't immediately notice his aura. He's purposefully keeping space between them. "I'm a threat?"

"You're a Bennett."

"Is…is that the opinion of your council or of the coven leader?" she wonders, her voice sounding smaller to her ears than she intended.

"In the interest of safety and secrecy, it's important the elders and I see eye to eye on coven matters. There's a reason the Geminis still exist, while other factions have been-"

"Wiped out? Like, the Bennetts, for example?"

"This would be a lot easier if you just came with me, Bonnie."

"It doesn't feel like you're giving me much of a choice."

He takes a step towards her but avoids eye contact. He sucks his teeth. Her walls are bare except for a paisley tapestry tacked in the corner. At its base lies a tiny altar, the last of her burning sage laid beside her Bennett grimoire, crystals, and mortar and pestle with the ashes of herbs she'd burned last. It all fits into a burlap clutch Lucy gave her.

"You know why this apartment was so cheap? It's where they used to harvest organs from people like _you_. New to town. No family, no friends. Unsuspecting. When my father was still coven leader, he let this one gang of vampires with ties to the black market operate out of this very room. That was their deal. They stayed in line, and he got to keep tabs on any newcomers in town.

"I put a stop to that, but if I were you I'd change the locks. Never know what kind of riff-raff might have a key to this place."

"You made that up."

He cracks a smile, a playful light filling his eyes for the first time since he stepped foot in the apartment. "Maybe." He shrugs. "Maybe not. You don't know my father. Either way, it's a good strategy. Change the bolts, change the locks. I could've told you all this had I known you were coming."

"You never formally withdrew your invitation."

"Says the girl who chucked her phone into the Grand Canyon." He takes another cautious step towards her, gauges her defenses. Her feet are already backed against the edge of her mattress, the sheets tickling her Achilles' heels. "Tick tock, Bon. I'll throw you over my shoulder if I have to, and believe me - I want to."

"What, _now_?"

"I've put the council off for as long as I could."

She lifts her chin defiantly. "How long?"

He smirks to himself. "Long enough."

She cuts her eyes sideways and groans. "Fine. I have to change, though." His responding expression reads both _you look fine_ and _so, change._ "Well, turn around."

He huffs, dares to mumble, "It's nothing I haven't seen before," but spins on his heel to face the other way.

Her stomach quivers but she pushes back the heady attraction growing second by second. For the past year, she dreamed up reasons to call him, scenarios of him showing up in Phoenix unannounced, what it'd be like to see him again. And yet now…

He sees the barely furnished apartment and probably caught sight of the taupe 1998 Pontiac Bonneville she bought for six hundred bucks in El Paso parked downstairs. Possessions aren't everything, but if she were an offering she'd be a very meager one.

Her closet holds a modest wardrobe. Any name brands she owned were sold at a consignment shop in Nevada. She'd stopped there for a month to make some quick cash doing palm readings and selling healing crystals spelled for ailments. Lucy had taught her well. Any skill could turn a profit, but Bonnie didn't want to draw too much attention so she stayed small and moved on quickly.

She did manage to save one label. A lacy, forest green Free People dress she'd never gotten the chance to show off. She kept it for a special occasion, a rainy day. Today. After shimmying out of her black leggings and gray linen tunic, she peeks over her shoulder and finds Kai behaving. Unfortunately.

He observes her altar, bent at the waist over the small, water warped side table she'd found by the dumpster at the back of the apartment building. "I have a place."

"Okay." She steps into a black slip and pulls her dress off its hanger.

"I mean, the coven has a place. We have lots of places. Guest houses. Condos and cottages we own. It helps to have somewhere inconspicuous for others to stay when they visit on witch business, you know."

"Okay…"

He almost turns to face her but stops himself. "You're welcome to any of them. We have loads."

"Witches who are into real estate. That's new."

"We're very established in the community here."

"I'll take your word for it."

She clears her throat, signaling he's allowed to look at her. She smooths the lace hem against her thighs and shakes her fingers through her now shoulder length waves. When he finally turns around, she watches his eyes. Moody gray with something not yet spoken, his gaze goes to her mattress and her discarded clothes in a rumpled pile, travels up her legs, lean and sienna like the desert she left behind. They pause on the dress, lustfully note how without the slip he'd see through to her naked skin, before finally meeting her own jade eyes.

"Shoes?"

Deflated, she paces over to put on her flats, shuts and locks her window, and strolls past Kai and out of her apartment.

The drive is eerily quiet. Kai doesn't ramble or fill the silence with nonsense. He doesn't goad Bonnie into a fight and he definitely doesn't ask her about her time in Phoenix. With white knuckles, his hands clutch the steering wheel and his attention doesn't stray from the road.

Bonnie grows more uneasy the longer she's around him. The skin buzzing has transformed into a hollow pit in her gut. The Gemini council thinks she could be a threat. What the hell could that mean for her? What could they do to her? What would she have to do to them to protect herself? Would they make her leave? Where would she go? But beyond that…

The coolness between her and Kai pisses her off. They've always had this weird tension. The will they, won't they, kiss me or kill me dynamic. But after Texas, she thought they'd made some kind of progress, formed some kind of foundation. Something on which to grow, to build. But he hasn't made a move to touch her and won't let his eyes linger on her for too long.

An ugly notion derails her train of thought. Maybe he found someone else. He is back home and seems to have fit into his coven's graces with the strangest ease. He could be toeing the company line. He could have met another witch. They might even be on the council. Kai's taking Bonnie to get her head ripped off by his new witch girlfriend, who's grown up around magic and is probably better at it. And obviously she's gorgeous. She pictures a brunette with long hair and cool blue eyes, a mean-spirited amalgamation of Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes. What if the Gemini are making them get married? They could have already done that!

Bonnie sneaks a peek at his hands on the steering wheel and notes the absence of a ring on _that _finger, so she shoves away the idea.

Outside the gray sedan, the landscape goes from urban to scenic and Bonnie's pulse ticks up when they become surrounded by woods. "Let me guess. Your council's decided to sacrifice me for the good of the coven and you're delivering me on a silver platter."

Confused and humored, his eyes dart over to her a few times before a smirk upends his lips. "We're going to a barbeque, Bonnie. My family has a small cabin beside the Willamette River. Jesus. Is that what you've been thinking?"

"What else was I supposed to think, Kai? You said they _summoned_ me, that they think I'm a threat."

"I never took you for someone who spooks easy." He grips the steering wheel tighter then loosens. "What else are you torturing yourself with?"

Her mouth turns down at the corners. "You'll laugh."

"I won't laugh." She throws him a skeptical sideways glance and he sobers up. "I promise I won't laugh."

Bonnie heaves an exhale and frowns at her hands, useless in her lap. "I had a fleeting thought that your coven set you up with another witch and you both are…you know, together."

There's a pregnant pause before Kai clears his throat. "The Gemini may have some ass backwards rituals for passing along leadership, but arranged marriage is a no-no. Besides, all the money in the world couldn't bribe me a bride."

"You're totally making fun of me."

"Only on the inside." His grin grows wider as he turns off the main road.

"See? This is my problem with you! I never know when to take you seriously. You show up uninvited, practically forcing me to come before your stupid council, and you can hardly make eye contact with me. Really, what was I supposed to think?"

"I may have taken to the concept of boundaries too strongly."

She scoffs. "And my apartment?"

"Oh, yeah. They definitely found a guy disemboweled in your bath tub." He meets her gaze again. "But just the one."

He winks.

All the way down the gravel access road to the river, her skin buzzes again. Maybe that's the magical frequency of the Gemini. She's always been able to sense witches but never so keenly with such a distinct sensation. The car comes to a halt, and Bonnie gulps down her anxiety. Kai parks and hurries to the passenger side to open the door for her. She steps out and her attention goes to the exuberant squeals of children and the low murmur of disembodied voices.

"So that's what you meant by witchy-woo in the air."

She looks up at Kai for guidance or reassurance. _Something_. Something other than the frigidness he's displayed.

He glances down at her and can no longer help himself, dipping down to capture her soft lips. Gripping her at the waist, he pulls her against him, and coaxes her lips open to taste her. She all but melts at his warm touch, and grabs fists of his shirt to steady herself. Their tongues use their muscle memory to tease each other, and behind the nostalgia of the last time they were together is a mighty need to let the world bleed away.

They part but share the same breath, Kai inhaling Bonnie's exhale. She searches his face for a moment. Then she swats at his chest. "You wait until now to kiss me when we had all that time back at my apartment?"

A chuckle rumbles through him and he leads Bonnie to the cabin by the water. "That was for my benefit just as much as it was for yours."


	2. Chapter 2

ii/ii

When Kai initially said the Gemini council summoned Bonnie, this is nothing like what she expected. It's the last weekend before area schools begin enrolling for the new school year, and the river is brimming with kids splashing and wading and soaking up their last moments of freedom. The scent of sizzling steak and hot dogs waft over from the grill, and everyone is in shorts and tank tops. Even Kai looks overdressed.

In high-waist shorts and a black muscle tee with Stone Cold Steve Austin plastered on the front and curls as unruly as ever, Liv bounds toward them and throws her arms around Bonnie. The girls were never what either considered close, but after the Travelers ordeal they're no less bonded. Plus, it's nice to see a familiar face. "Not the guest of honor I was expecting, but you'll do."

Kai cuts their reunion short, though. His hand slips down the lace covering Bonnie's forearm for her hand, and for a second adrenaline courses through her because she hasn't always had good experiences when he touches her. But he only intertwines their fingers and guides her away from the revelry and to the cabin.

It's homey with wood paneled walls and framed portraits of bears and rivers and mountain ranges. Four adults lounge in the main room and they all stand upon Kai and Bonnie's entrance. Instinctively, she wants to pull her hand out of his grasp, to reestablish distance between them in case someone mistakes whatever they are to each other for, well, whatever they might be to each other. But Kai's grip is a vise, and it occurs to Bonnie he's just as nervous. His aura radiating onto her says it all. He's not as worried about their impression of her as he is concerned what her impression of them might be.

One of the men approaches them first. "Bonnie. I'm Joshua, Malachai's father." He smiles and while it does reach his dark eyes, she doesn't trust it. Or maybe she doesn't trust him. This is the man who abused his son and then locked him away from the world when he couldn't be bothered to actually parent. Still, her Grams taught her manners, so she gives him a tight smile and shakes his hand.

Then , it's a flurry of introductions and condolences in regards to Grams' passing from the other balding man and the two women, one blonde and one redhead. Bonnie doesn't catch anyone's names. It's blur of handshakes and nervous smiles.

The council, which is smaller than Bonnie imagined, take their previous seats, so Kai and Bonnie settle beside each other on the couch. She looks around for someone to start talking, but they all seem a little apprehensive. So she speaks. "You _summoned_?"

Instantly, one of the elders rolls her eyes. "See, Joshua? You can't use heavy-handed words like that. The girl's scared half to death." She shakes her head, long, red barrel curls dancing about, and her attention goes back to Bonnie. "We wanted to extend an invitation. We try to have a formal gathering every solstice, but bad timing and other plans have come up. It's no secret there aren't many Bennett witches left and we would be remiss if we didn't befriend Sheila Bennett's only grandchild."

"Well, before my Grams' bartered my way into the prison world so I'd escape death a second time, I'd never heard of your coven. Maybe secrecy was the way to go."

The man who isn't Joshua Parker speaks up. "That's why we called you here. You were in the prison world with Malachai."

This time she slips her hand away from Kai's, instead sandwiching both of hers between her thighs. "Yes. And I was there long after he got out."

Once Kai escaped 1994, no one outside of her circle of friends questioned how he did it. The elders had to have assumed he'd gotten a hold of magic since everything there was a mirror of reality at the exact moment they trapped him, but Bennett blood was the only key. Had Grams communed with the council to send her there, or had she dealt strictly with the spirits? Why didn't the council attempt to solve the case of their escaped prisoner? Would she have gotten out sooner?

"What was it like?" Joshua implores.

She meets his inquiring gaze with a harsh glare. "Hell."

"Malachai told us there's a pair of vampires who might come sniffing around about the other prison world. The nineteen oh three one. No doubt the ones I encountered a couple Thanksgivings past. It seems our ancestors imprisoned their mother?"

"That sounds about right, but I couldn't tell you if they still care or not. I haven't talked to anyone from Mystic Falls in over a year."

And that much was true. Bonnie didn't chuck her phone into the Grand Canyon to get away from Kai. It had been to get away from Mystic Falls. After Damon's impromptu visit, her worst fears began to manifest.

Once news got back that he'd found Bonnie, Elena reached out. Caroline, too. They missed her and loved her and wanted her to come back home. Harmless enough, sure, but soon the guilt trips began. Both girls having settled in with their respective Salvatore brother wanted to do what they thought they did best. Fix. Elena had been trying for years with Damon, to make him into a better man, and Caroline fell into the same rut. She wanted to find a way to heal Stefan of his demons, his past.

They wanted Bonnie to open the 1903 prison world and rescue Lily Salvatore. The day they posed the question was the day Bonnie packed up and left Texas. She barely got to say goodbye to her friends. If she had to guess, her old friends in Mystic Falls haven't given up on that quest. But Bonnie gave up on caring.

"Is that why I'm here? You think I'd lead them to you? You think I'd help them?"

"We weren't sure and we can never be too careful," says the blonde. All eyes then go to Kai, who has been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time.

"I watched you, Bonnie. You and Damon. He pisses you off, but after you cool down you go right back to him. _All thirteen times_." He echoes what he said when they were stuck in 1994, his words just as loaded with jealousy and resentment as he'd been then.

She's careful not to ball her fists.

"We're not accusing you of anything." The redhead leans forward over her lap. Even though Joshua was the previous leader, it's evident she's the senior member of the council. "We're only asking. Should we be worried?"

"I left Mystic Falls almost a year and a half ago so I wouldn't get dragged into someone else's bad decisions. I left my entire life behind and I never went back." Unwilling to come across as emotionally compromised, she clears her throat. "Unless you plan on letting whoever is in that prison world out, I suggest you destroy its ascendant. You do that, and then there's nothing those brothers can do that I haven't already dealt with before."

A series of bangs on the window shock everyone out of the tension, and they turn to see Liv grinning from outside. "Steaks are ready!"

Ease fills the room at Bonnie's conviction, and the council stands and files out to join the barbeque. Kai heads for the door but stops when he realizes Bonnie's still sitting. Her spine bowed forward, thighs squeezing the circulation out of her hands, and eyes staring across from her at nothing in particular.

"Bonnie."

"I can't believe this," she mutters. Her magic coils like a viper in the hollow of her stomach.

"What's wrong? I thought that went well."

She cuts him with a glare harsher than the one she shot his father, and he knows that's not the case at all. "You blindsided me! If that's what you were so afraid of, why drag me out here? You could've asked me that at my apartment. Better yet, you've been spying on me all week, right? That's why I'm itching all the time. Have you seen me talk to Damon? To Elena? To anyone who wasn't Lucy?"

"Bonnie, I'm sorry."

"No, you don't get to apologize until you get it. You _embarrassed_ me, Kai. I am the last in my line, me and Lucy. There aren't any more Bennetts beside us. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is that my entire family is known for being puppets to vampires? And you go and gossip to your coven that I'm no different. Hell, that I might be worse."

She gets to her feet and folds her arms across her chest. "I left Virginia to make a life for myself. I wanted my life to be mine. I'm doing what you said I should do. You said I deserved a shot at life. A _real _one. And, what? You don't trust me enough to do that?"

"Bon-"

"No. You've hurt me a lot of times and in a lot of different ways. But leaving me…and doubting me are your sharpest knives."

Something wet and cool touches Bonnie's arm and when she glances up, Liv backlit by the setting sun holds a Corona out to her. Wordlessly, she takes it and responds with a lackluster smile as thanks. Liv rounds the picnic table and throws a long leg over the bench. "You stormed out of there pretty quickly."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm what your coven was expecting a Bennett witch to be like. At least not the granddaughter of _Sheila Bennett_."

"The elders looked pleased as punch. You and Kai, on the other hand…" She whistles low then takes a gulp from her own bottle.

Bonnie glances back towards the cabin, where Kai's coven duties include cutting sheet cake and serving each slice to impatient kids wrapped in beach towels. "How's he been?"

"Different. I dunno. I think I'm the last person he tried to kill." They share a look. "Not recently. I mean, like, forever ago. But I don't think I have to tell you how he's changed. You're the one who walked into the lion's den holding his hand."

A lull falls between them and they sip their beer. "Why'd you come all the way up here anyhow?"

"I don't know." Bonnie throws her gaze to the river, where the redhead from the council wades with a toddler in a yellow giraffe inner tube. Realizing she's being watched, the elder gets her child to shake a chubby fist at the girls. They wave back. "The community, I guess. I never really had that. And New Orleans is just a big turf war, so I'm staying away from those covens."

"Well, if you made it this far, if you got this close to the council and they didn't burn you at the stake… You're pretty much golden. But what are you going to _do_ here?"

"I thought about going back to school. There's a professor Lucy knows at Portland State University, someone Grams' knew forever ago. She says they have a great Anthropology program."

"You're really sticking around? Ah, jeez, Bonnie. Don't tell me we might actually end up being friends."

"Scares the hell out of me, too."

Bonnie doesn't have to turn to know Kai's approaching. She doesn't even have to notice how Liv's attention shifts to something just over her right shoulder. She can feel him. How is it she's always been able to sense him?

"Forgive the interruption, ladies, but I'd like a word with our guest."

Liv's eyebrows quirk upwards. "That's a lot of formal talk, Mister Coven Leader. It seems I must oblige."

"Bonnie?" He extends his hand. She stares at it for a moment, takes in the pink scars and blue veins and tan grooves stretching across his palm, before looking back at Liv.

"You trust him?"

The blonde offers a sigh of resignation. "With my life." Her eyes dart to Kai. "Then again, I don't really have a choice."

The siblings share a war of expressions while Bonnie makes her way across the yard, leaving Kai to trail behind her. She opens the door to find Joshua and the blonde female elder sitting close and talking low. The woman's giggles echo and die as they notice Bonnie's entrance. Kai comes up behind her, and the two elders become somber.

"We need the cabin." There's authority in his voice without it sounding like a threat, and the elders obey.

Joshua passes by his son without so much as a glance, but the woman lingers. She goes to place a comforting hand on Kai's shoulder but thinks better of herself. "Be careful."

"I'm not going to hurt her," he growls, growing more indignant by the second.

"I was talking about _you_, Malachai."

Once they're alone, Kai flippantly waves his hand spelling the building against eavesdroppers. They stand on opposite sides of the room, much like they did earlier this morning. Attracted but equally at odds.

Bonnie waits for him to speak, purposefully stays quiet so he can make the first move. He takes steady steps in her direction until he's enveloped by her scent. Lavender and sage with the hint of charcoal in her hair. She doesn't move away from him, but there's defiance swimming in the green rings of her eyes.

"I _get it_ and I'm sorry. Trust is a fairly new concept for me. At any moment, my council could flip and build me another prison world. Half of this coven only follow me because I literally hold their lives in my hand. And you and me? With our track record? Cut me a little slack. Just a slice."

She turns her head and spots Liv through the window, who averts her attention elsewhere. Even with a muting spell, they're still surrounded by nosy witches. Balling a fistful of shirt, Bonnie drags Kai deeper into the cabin to the sole bedroom and shuts the door behind them. The only window in the room is small, faces away from the river, and set close to the ceiling. It's dimly lit, the only furniture a double bed and a nightstand.

Taking her cue, Kai sits on the foot of the bed and watches Bonnie figure out her rebuttal. She bites at her nails, a habit she found disgusting but somehow still picked up from her cousin. "Is your dad dating that elder?"

"You wanna talk about my father's love life?"

She shrugs. "Just curious. They looked cozy." He squints at her and she shrugs again, this time more exasperatedly, her arms flopping to her sides. "What? What do you want me to say? That I accept your apology? I forgive you? You're right?

"You're right. I haven't given you a single reason to trust me. And, yeah, it gets under my skin that I've been loyal to the wrong people for the wrong reasons. But I came here thinking I'd get a fresh start, and already I've got my past on me like a ball and chain."

He stares at her for a long moment. "What's really bothering you?"

"You embarrassed me."

"I got that, but I know you, Bonnie. Intimately. What's wrong?"

"Honestly?" She asks, to which he nods. "You. You are what's wrong with me. A year ago, you were ready to jump my bones on the table of a truckstop diner. You were innuendo this, and _remember the time I fucked you so good you talked about me in your sleep for three months_ that."

"Pretty sure I didn't say that, but good to know."

"You practically begged me to come to Portland with you, but now that I'm here you act like you don't want me to be. And on top of that, the impression your coven has of me isn't what a Bennett prodigy I am, but what danger I might bring."

"Just say it."

"Say what?"

"Say you wanted me at your doorstep the second you came to town."

"I didn't-"

"Bon."

"Fine! I wanted to pop up on your radar the moment I drove into Oregon. I wanted the red carpet pulled out for me. I wanted you to show me a whole new world, okay?"

"Okay." He bites back his grin at the cartoon reference. "Then in the interest of honesty…"

He holds out his hands, palms up, and when Bonnie tentatively steps forward to clasp them he pulls her closer. In a swift motion, he lets go of her hands, grips her by the backs of the thighs, and jerks her down to straddle his lap. Her surprised gasp washes over his face and he grins. "I've been dying to tear this dress off of you the moment you put it on."

"Your family is right outside."

"They won't hear a thing. Unless you want them to." He raises his arm, ready to disengage the spell on the cabin. "You want an audience, Bon?"

Her eyes alight with mischief, she grabs his face and melds her lips to his. His immediate reaction is to devour her kiss and flip them over to press her into the mattress. The hem of her dress and slip slide from her thighs as she kicks her shoes off and wraps her legs around his hips to tug him down onto her.

She's been vulnerable enough for one day, but she can admit to herself that she missed this. She missed _him._ Lucy tried to set her up a few times in Phoenix, egged her to make a few dating profiles, but Bonnie had no interest. A fling or two might've felt nice for a while, but Kai Parker is an itch Bonnie can't help but scratch. The only itch she wants to scratch.

His fingers make quick work of loosening his belt, unbuttoning his pants, and yanking her panties down her legs. Impatience dares to overtake him because he wants her naked and he wants her now.

She breaks their kiss. "Don't rip my dress. It's the only nice thing I have."

"I'll buy you another," he says, but he helps her lift the lace and silk over her head anyway until she's bare before him. He'd take longer to admire her, but she lifts up and pulls at the hem of his shirt. She's as ravenous for him as he is for her, and he is more than happy to abide. His shirt and boots go first and are quickly followed by his jeans and boxers.

Hovering over her, he teases her moist entrance with his erection. Impatience has her reaching between them to guide him inside, but he tuts her, gripping her vagrant wrist. He instead glides down, leaves achingly slow and tender kisses on her breasts, her belly button, and the tenderest spots of her inner thighs. She's dripping wet and she squeals when the tip of his tongue licks her slit clean.

In the week they holed up in that motel room, Kai proved he was exceptionally skilled at making Bonnie's toes curl and her eyes roll back. He hasn't lost an ounce of his talent, and Bonnie thinks he likes pleasing her until she can't stand it. Not for the favor to be reciprocated, but for the simple fact that it drives her out of her mind.

The way he works his tongue combined with the sweet scratching of his facial hair has her unraveling and she bites down on the flesh of her palm to keep from crying out when she finally cums. Kai laps her up and then rises to kiss her pillowy lips so she can taste herself. "What do I have to say to get you to move out of that filthy apartment?" He bucks himself against her, illicting a feral whine.

"That's what you're thinking about right now?" Her hand reaches down between them again. "Really?"

"I'm thinking about how to get you to stay with me forever, but let's be real. Your apartment is pretty shitty." He finally thrusts into her and captures her lips to swallow her moan of pleasure. She acclimates to the pressure of him filling her before undulating beneath him, which he responds with indulgent thrusts.

He grabs her jaw and cranes her face away so he can trail kisses along her neck to her ear. "Now that you're here, I might not let you leave."

"We'll see about that."


End file.
